226 Arctic and Antarctic Exploration [parti 
the greatest kindness, attending to all their wants until 
they arrived at Fort Providence on the nth December. 
Back's sufferings while in search of help had been 
quite as severe as those of his comrades he had left 
behind. His sole food consisted of a pair of leather 
trousers, a gun-cover, and an old shoe, with a little tripe 
de roche. At length, after some days, he fell in with the 
Indians and sent them with food to Fort Enterprise. 
Reaching Fort Providence he found Franklin's commis- 
sion as Commander, and his own as Lieutenant. On his 
arrival in England Franklin was promoted to the rank of 
Captain on November 20th, 1822. 
Franklin was busily employed, while in England, in 
writing the narrative of his expedition, and in August 
1823 he married Miss Eleanor Porden Their married life 
was a brief one, for she died in February 1825, soon after 
Franklin's departure on his second expedition, leaving a 
daughter. 
When Parry sailed on his third voyage by way of 
Prince Regent's Inlet, it was resolved that Captain 
Beechey, in the Blossom, should co-operate by way of 
Bering's Strait, while another land expedition was des- 
patched to the north coast of America. Captain Franklin 
and Lieut. Back were to explore to the westward of the 
Mackenzie River, while Dr Richardson and Mr Kendall 
were to survey the coast between the mouths of the 
Mackenzie and Coppermine. Three boats were specially 
built for the expedition, combining lightness with stability. 
The largest was 26 feet long, the other two 24 feet. 
The expedition left England in February, 1825. For 
a few days the explorers rested at Fort Resolution, the 
only station of the Hudson's Bay Company on the 
Slave Lake, and then proceeded to the Mackenzie River, 
which was reached on the 2nd of August. They de- 
scended the river to the Hudson's Bay post called Fort 
Norman. Lieut. Back, accompanied by Mr Dease of 
the Hudson's Bay Company, was then sent to the Great 
Bear Lake to select a site and build a house for winter 
quarters. Franklin and Kendall went down the Mackenzie 
to its mouth. They all returned to Fort Franklin on 
the Great Bear Lake in 65 0 n' 50" N. to winter. The 
party consisted of 15 seamen and marines, nine Canadian 
